This record warmth is a result of global warming with an added boost from a strong El Niño, which spreads warm waters across the surface of the Pacific.

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These extra warm waters fuelled tropical cyclone Winston, which struck Fiji at the weekend as a category five storm – the highest classification. With wind speeds of nearly 300 kilometres per hour, Winston is the strongest cyclone ever recorded in the southern hemisphere.

Winston is also the second strongest cyclone ever to strike land anywhere in the world in terms of wind speed, according to hurricane expert Jeff Masters of Weather Underground. The strongest was Super Typhoon Haiyan in 2013, which caused a devastating storm surge in the Philippines.

Winston missed largest islands

Fortunately for Fiji, Winston passed between the two largest islands rather than striking them directly, missing the major population centres.

But in places like Koro Island that felt the full force of the storm some villages have been almost entirely destroyed, as aerial photographs confirm. The death toll stands at 20 and is likely to rise further.

Tropical cyclones derive their power from warm surface waters, so as the planet gets hotter strong tropical storms like Winston are expected to become more common, though there may not be more storms overall.

But because tropical cyclones are rare and records go back only a few decades, it will be decades yet before a clear trend emerges.

Climate change is also likely to affect the average tracks that storms take, meaning some coasts are hit more frequently while others are spared. Western Europe is likely to be hit by more hurricanes or hurricane-derived storms as the Atlantic warms.